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Who says travel bloggers aren’t journalists? Okay, lots of people, but that doesn’t stop a few of them (us) from putting boots on the ground and getting some real reporting done, outside of listing out our top 10 favorite places to drink around the world, or how you can get paid to travel the world (Answers: #1 Matt Torrey’s in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn; and land a lucrative job as a travel show host, respectively).<\/p>\n
In an effort to get some insight as to what travel is like right now in Egypt, and whether it is in fact safe given the recent political turmoil and much-publicized detaining of three Americans<\/a> (one of whom is Transportion Secretary Ray LaHood’s son) who were working in Egypt for a U.S.-funded pro-democracy group, friend of The Expeditioner DowntownTraveler.com enlisted the help of local Italian Giulia Cimarosti to give us the skinny<\/a>.<\/p>\n In response to the question of whether the tumult in Tahrir Square is indicitive of the rest of the country, Giulia pointed out that “[e]veryone must know that whatever happens in Tahrir Square, the rest of Cairo and — most of all — the rest of Egypt is perfectly safe. This doesn\u2019t mean that the protests are not important, but tourism-wise there are no complications at all.”<\/p>\n Good to know, but what about deals — has the bad publicity and decrease in visitors translated into travel bargains for the cheap traveler and are all the sites still open? “Nothing has changed regarding visiting ruins, museums etc . . . The ticket fares are probably still the same (they\u2019ve always been cheap anyway!), but I saw great deals on organized trips with tour operators. The touristic sites operate normal hours and are less crowded now . . . I would definitely take advantage of that.”<\/p>\n